


And The Nightmares

by Measured



Category: 2 Broke Girls
Genre: F/F, Hipsters, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1335418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured/pseuds/Measured
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max dreams she's everything she's ever hated, but Caroline's there in waking and dreams, so it isn't all bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And The Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkSeraphim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSeraphim/gifts).



> Set in early s2. I actually love hipsters, almost as much as I love Max's blinding seething hatred of them.

Everything looked the same at first. The same diner, the same dead end job and dead end life, but something niggled at the corner of her mind. Caroline came in, looking like Han had helped dress her. She lifted up her thrift store shopping haul like she'd personally won the shopping marathon, and now deserved a medal for getting last year's designer clothes at closeout prices.

"Oh, I see you got the latest vinyl of Grizzly Bear–And some Miles Davis for Earl. I love Hiptopia!"

Caroline did a turn, showing off how it flattered her legs and her lack of an ass.

"I got this _rad_ pair of shorts."

"No one says 'rad' anymore, miss _stuck forever in the eighties._ It's 'deck' or bust," Max said.

"Well, the eighties are back. Retro is in. Have you seen _Wallmart_ lately?" Caroline said.

"No, I avoid Walmart, it's where dreams go to die," Max said.

"You say everywhere is where dreams go to die."

"Dreams are like lemmings, except Walmart is a lemming graveyard with _lanyards half-off_."

"Well, that zombie lemming graveyard had a great deal on dinner," Caroline said. She held up dented cans. "Half off. For the dented ones. And it just turns out that there was a tragic can avalanche," Caroline said with a knowing smile.

She always managed to find the bright side in the shit heap that was their life. And hey, Max had taught her how to do a few things. Sneak into movie theaters, do a proper bodyshot, and most of all how to live.

Caroline in turn had taught her things as well. Like how to do taxes, and how to believe, and all that other Hallmark channel mushy crap.

Caroline showed off her thrift shop coat, her thrift shop find boots. Max kind of hated Macklemore for making great finds in the thrift shops harder, now that it was 'in.'

"I just went on Pitchfork, and Mitzi's The Shitzi is going to be playing nearby!" Caroline was gushing now. She started to put up the ugliest glasses ever. It was such a Twilight Zone episode thing. _And now the alien comes out of her head! Oh, you were a gremlin all along! Who's flying the plane!_ She could do them all day.

Max caught her face in the reflection. Caroline wasn't the only one wearing the hideous hipster glasses. They were both wearing Macklemore-grade ugly coats, and they were both holding ironic vinyls of bands no one had ever heard of.

The bag dropped, and everything dimmed into a single scream.

*

She woke up groggy, disoriented by the sound of a scream and feet on the floor. _Oh shit, we're being robbed!_ She tried to push herself up, but blinked at the light as it was turned on. At least their light's hadn't been turned off. Then again, they were illegally subletting an apartment, so that was one issue that didn't come up.

Then it all hit her. No, they weren't being robbed. Being robbed would be business as usual, and hardly as horrifying as what she'd just dreamt. She heard a slam, a squeak, several swear words she'd personally taught Caroline, all which somehow came out ladylike and dignified. Caroline peered quickly in the door, then waited, knocking at the side of the doorway, as they couldn't afford a door.

"I had to wait, last time I rushed in when you were screaming, I got to hear you calling someone 'daddy.'"

Max pulled the blanket over her head. "Don't come in, I'm dead."

"You look pretty good for a dead girl," Caroline said.

"I want the spiders on my eyes dreams back," Max said. She pulled the covers down just a bit, and Caroline took it as an invitation. She climbed under the dark covers and came close, and began to stroke her hair.

"I've told you a million times, I'm allergic to cuddling."

"You also said you were allergic to the diner and you come in every day," Caroline said.

She began to stroke Max's hair. Her nerves had begun to settle a little. She rested her head against Caroline's shoulder. She wanted to punch her dream self in the face. Why couldn't it be a normal dream like being covered with spiders, or making out with Caroline again?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Caroline said.

"Do I ever want to talk about it?" Max said.

"It doesn't hurt to ask," Caroline said.

But they'd been together. Even in the hellish world where she was everything she hated in the world, Caroline had been by her side looking just as bad. Now, Max wasn't one to get mushy over anything ever, but it seemed...right, somehow. No matter how bad life got, Caroline was still there, so it wasn't completely rock bottoming out.

Before her mantra had been "Life can and will hit rock bottom. In fact, it'll start there and then dig deeper until you can't believe how crappy it can be, then you die."

But Caroline had come in and shown her that just maybe, they could crawl up into something else. Something like hope and friendship and having someone who saw her hungover and PMSing like hell and liked her anyways.

"I could sing to you," Caroline said. "I killed it back at the kareoke bar."

"I've heard your singing, and you about made that kareoke machine jump off a cliff in shame. I'd get even worse nightmares."

Caroline smiled. She rarely took all of Max's rough edges to heart.

Caroline reached for Max's laptop. In a second she had it out of sleep mode and youtube up. She clicked _Eight hours of Soft Kitty to cute kittens!!_ and set it to play. Max relaxed against her a little, Caroline's shiny blond hair tickling her cheeks. In the end, Caroline knew just how to make it right.

"It's all going to be okay. It's just a dream, and the spiders can't get you," Caroline said.

"No it's not," Max said.

"Yes it _is_. It's going to be all right. We'll make it through the diner shift, and we'll make a bit more money, and we'll make this come true. I know it, Max."

And Max didn't say _You make me believe and make me a better person, and I like the feeling of your B cups against my D cups, I could totally be in for this lesbian thing_.

But because she was Max, take no shit, leave your mushy feelings at the door Max, she didn't.

Instead, she said:

"You know, Caroline Channing, you're all right."


End file.
